Our Ladder for London jobs campaign for young hits new heights

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The Evening Standard’s Ladder for London campaign broke new ground today with more than 400 jobless young Londoners given the chance so far to kick-start their careers.

In just six weeks since we launched our campaign, 431 apprentices have been signed up from our campaign partner City Gateway. Sainsbury’s today became the latest employer to join our initiative, announcing 50 new jobs to become our second biggest subscriber so far.

Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King said: “We plan to open 50 new convenience stores in London in the next year and we have ring-fenced one job at each store to a young recruit from Ladder for London.

“As one of the biggest employers in the country, we have a role to play in every community we serve, especially London, which is where we began in 1869 in Drury Lane, then a very poor part of the capital.

“I am a passionate believer that there is no more positive difference any corporation can make to society than employment. Jobs make communities thrive more than anything and we are thrilled to be a part of this brilliant London-wide initiative to help unemployed young adults with potential onto the first rung of the career ladder.”

The campaign follows our investigation into youth unemployment in London, the highest for a generation, where 126,000 young adults, one in four, are jobless. Organisations signed up to take apprentices include Goldman Sachs, British Gas, Metro Bank, RBS, Saracens, Pret A Manger and the Royal Opera House, as well as more than 100 smaller companies that have answered our plea of “just take one”.

It means that we are well on course to smashing our goal of creating pledges for 500 new jobs by Christmas. So far, more than 1,000 companies have inquired about signing up apprentices at standard.co.uk/ladderforlondon.